As I mentioned several posts back, we have been working to get Gemma's big girl room ready. We don't intend to put her in there until next spring, but who knows. It is nice having it ready to go if it turns out she's ready to move sooner. We even go in there with her now sometimes if she's having a rough night and lay with her in the bed. Doesn't happen often, but it's a nice option if the need arises. At any rate, it is just another house-project to check off the 'ole "to do" list. We recently purchased the rest of the furniture for the room, and then today we lowered the bed (took the box-spring out...that thing was gigantically tall). Well, I think today was the first day that Gemma realized the bed and room are "hers". And it was the most precious thing, you would have thought it was Christmas morning at our house. She was soooooo proud. We got my little step-stool out, from when I was a wee-girl like her, for her to climb up and down (it's still a bit tall, that's how tall that bed was), and she was just in heaven. We honestly never, NEVER, have seen her quite so enthused about something. It was just too cute for words. So hopefully the pictures do it at least some justice.The first few are of daddy and his little helper getting the drawer pulls attached to the furniture. I tell you, daddy hardly knew what to do with all that help!!
She didn't want to miss out on ANYthing.
Little girl on a big (lowered) bed.
Lying down...look at that proud, happy smile.
Here she is reciting the "Five Little Monkeys" poem my mom taught her. We talked to her about how this is just like the monkeys, no monkeys jumpin' on the bed! She's done splendidly thus far. I'm sure it will be something we'll have to keep on her for here at first, but she really did well. She just crawled up and down the step-stool, and around the bed, and kept laying down on all the pillows with a look of sheer joy on her face. Pretty exciting day for a wee little gal!
And this final picture is from yesterday (well, so were the furniture assembly ones technically). Climbing up on the couch is another new-found talent she has mastered, and yesterday she summoned me to show that she and bunny had both climbed up and sat their little bottoms down very carefully right where they belong. Again, as you can see, she was quite proud. My little girl is turning into quite the big girl...right before my eyes...
Oh, and one more newsflash speaking of a big girl...WE HAVE ALL 16 TEETH NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY GEMMA!!!! We'll see who continues our teething adventure next, her 2yr molars or some baby teeth in the mouth of a yet-to-be-born little wee-one.Thanks, as always, for checking in!
This just makes me laugh.
Well, not a whole lot going on around here, but thought I'd check in since it's been almost a week. Last Saturday Aaron and I finally got to go on our date for our anniversary. It was WONDERFUL!!! My parents watched Gemma and we went out Saturday afternoon and evening, and were home in time to put her to bed. It was perfect (neither of us are huge fans of staying out late). Anyways, we shopped for some religious Icons for our bedroom, did some other various shopping, and had dinner at our traditional Anniversary restaurant, Kwan Court. It was faaaaaaaaabulous. He had his usual sushi, and I had my usual scallops, and even enjoyed a half-glass of champagne. We did find that when we go next year we'll have to go a bit later, as the piano player (this awesome probably 80 year old guy in a Hawaiian shirt) showed up about 15 minutes before we left. I honestly could have sat there all evening I think. It was just a lovely, well-needed time out. Not to be confused with the well needed time-outs that Gemma has once in awhile. ;-DGemma has been working on getting her final tooth in, so that has made her a little rough around the edges especially in the sleeping and eating departments. Nothing extremely awful, but definitely out of the ordinary. I'm so excited this is her last tooth (until 2yr molars), and am hoping things will settle out nicely once it pops through. The other one showed up last Thursday, so it shouldn't be too much longer.Baby is doing well, moving around quite a bit now, I probably feel him or her at least once a day. It's so cool. Well, that's about it for now. Not much going on, just wanted to check in and update. Thanks for checking in with us!!
I have been sewing more days than not while the wee-one naps lately, so that has been fun. I am working on several various projects, all baby-related. One of the things I am working on is some lap pad/burp cloths my aunt taught me to make. I am so excited about this seer-sucker I found at Hobby Lobby. First gender-neutral looking stuff I've come across, I need to go back and get more. And who doesn't love polka-dots?!! I figure these will make great gifts for friends and relatives with wee-ones on the way. Goodness knows I have plenty of those! The first one is green polka-dots with the white rick-rack embellishment, and the second one is green and blue polka-dots, so it's reversible, and no embellishments.
I am also in the middle of a batch of 6 newborn diapers. I just need to sew the elastic in, flip them right-side out, and do the finish-work and Aplix (velcro).
And here is my "sewing space". I got it rearranged a bit after moving a friend's storage stuff out. The machine is right by the door, so when Gemma gets a bit older she and siblings can play in the next room while I sew. Should be ideal. Also moved my bookshelf, file cab, etc. in there, so the big open room can be strictly "play". And piano. And this can be "my room". It really is a great space to have in the basement. Also has two huge closets!! Like I said, ideal.
Okay, gotta go, thanks for checking in!!! More later.
Here is a picture of my teeny-tiny -but definitely there- baby bump at around 18wks. I'm due right around 5 months from now!! Had an OB appt. today and the heart-rate was 156 bpm. Everything's looking great
And since mommy got her "peeeeture" taken, Gemma wanted hers taken too. Here she is sporting her Star Wars sticker that daddy picked out for her at the OB's office. She wore it proudly all day, and yes, I remembered to take it off her shirt before tossing it in the wash.
CHEERS!
Little girlies in their rockers. Can you guess who the second one is??
Okay, I guess the "toot" story is probably getting old, so thought I would update on more of what's going on in our lives lately. Let's see...I've started feeling the baby moving around. He or she is about the size of my hand now (I'm 17ish weeks currently). I mainly feel him/her when I am rocking Gemma, I think for a two-fold reason. a.) I am not moving around, and b.) I'm always rocking Gemma after I've eaten (after lunch for her nap, and after dinner for bedtime). Anyways, it's pretty cool. It makes me really excited for his/her arrival. I just can't wait to see Gemma interact with the baby. It will be so cool having two.We have instituted "daddy-shirts" at mealtimes for Gemma. Once she learned that her bib could be removed we didn't have a whole lot of luck keeping it on for an entire meal, and bibs just don't really have the greatest "coverage". Well, Gemma is not a terribly messy eater, but she's not meticulous either. And lately one of her favorites has been watermelon (mano-manon) and that just drips everywhere. I was getting really tired of having to OxiClean things after every meal, when Aaron mentioned I should just get some cheap t-shirts for her to wear at mealtime. So we went to the store to get some little-boy undershirts and she saw the package and excitedly exclaimed, "It's DADDY shirts!!" They are just like the undershirts Aaron wears. So anyways, now when mealtime rolls around, we wash our hands and proudly don our daddy shirt. Life is good. Gemma's happy to wear a shirt just like her daddy, and mommy is happy to have my stain treating cut down to next to nothing. I just let the shirts go, and they look hideous but who cares?! They were like, less than $1 a piece. I toss them in the wash with whatever happens to be going through. They're stained all over, but it gives them character, right? Here's a pic of miss G in said shirt. Just goes right over whatever she's wearing, and works like a charm!
Now that I've been feeling so much better I've been getting back into some sewing. I am currently working on a batch of newborn size cloth-diapers, and the other day I made a little flannel baby blanket. I was very happy with how it turned out, and Gemma thought it was pretty sweet, too. She liked naming all the different animals.
And lastly, here's a sweet pic of the big 19month old taken on August 11. I think, if you look back at this post, she was holding her foot the same way in her 18 month pic. Weird, huh? Thanks for checking in!!
Yes, you read that title correctly. Let me explain...First off, Gemma has been doing a great job at going poopy on the toilet lately. We are so proud of her, and make a very big deal about it. Lots of cheering and "yay poopy!!!" Well, she is also becoming more aware of her bodily functions such has belching and tooting, so we've been working on "excuse me". She pronounces it "smeeeese me!" So cute. Anyways, she had done a poopy the other night and we had a big celebration as always. Well, later on I was getting her diaper on for bedtime and she let out a quite loud toot, to which she said very proudly, "IIIIIII toot!" I answered, "yes, I heard you, and what do you say?" To which she responds, "YAY toot!!!" I about split a gut. But instead I replied, "nooooo, what do we say when we toot?" And she got all flustered and said, "ohhhhhh, smeeeeese me mommy!" It was just toooooo funny, so thought I'd share. Hope you don't find my humor too, uhhh, crude. Or just odd.
Gemma has long had an affinity for shoes, as evidenced in this post from nearly a year ago. Well, her love of shoes still runs deep, only now she knows what to do with them. Still hasn't figured out how to put her own on, that is quite frustrating for her in fact. But as you will see below...
Thanks for checking in!!
I am just amazed at the little toddler into which Gemma is turning. Where is my baby? Well, she is certainly turning into a sweet little girl...and a big grown-up little girl at that! She has gone poopy in the potty three times since Thursday!!!! Once in the big potty, and twice in her potty chair. Here she is dumping her poopies into the big potty and waving bye-bye to them. We have had much clapping, cheering and encouragement. "YAYYYYYY poopy," Gemma will tell you! I am amazed at how long she will keep her diaper dry, but she has yet to go potty on the potty. I don't want to force her, but we're certainly talking about it a lot, and trying often. It is my hope to have her potty-trained (at least during the day) by the time baby comes. We shall see. Whatever the case, I am very proud of her.
And here is a picture of Gemma helping me with laundry. What, you may ask, is on her head? I will let you draw your own conclusions, for fear of incriminating myself further. I will just say, this is her usual routine when we fold laundry. Silly girl. Such a helper though!! She loves to hand me clothing - piece by piece - to fold, and she does a great job at throwing things from the washer to the dryer when I hand them to her, and helping me pull things out of the dryer, too. What a great big-sis she will make!!
We took a short (24hr) trip to the southeast part of the state a few weekends ago for a family reunion of sorts on Aaron's mom's side of the family. We try to make it down there about three times a year, I believe we've been 2-3 times since having Gemma. Anyways, she was a FABULOUS traveler. We left Saturday afternoon after her nap and she was just a "gem" the whole way down. Here she is with her dear dolly, getting gas at QuikTrip before heading out.
Eating her snack. 
The main "event" was a gathering at Aaron's aunt and uncle's house where we had a fun pool party. Gemma was pretty excited to swim in a "big" pool. She's been in the one at Genesis a few times, but this was outdoors and with lots of people. She did great (mainly played on the steps).
Her favorite thing, by far, was this little "game" she invented. It was apparently about the coolest thing ever, because I think she did this for about 30-45 minutes straight. Let me walk you through it:
Step one, climb into pool with plastic cup.
Step two, climb out of pool with cup filled with water.
Step three, walk down sidewalk.
Step four, find the "perfect spot".
Step five, gleefully and excitedly dump water.
Step six, repeat. Over and over and over. I kid you not, it was too cute. She was so content just to do this again and again.We stayed with Aaron's uncle, with whom he lived during his under-grad. They live on probably 10-20 acres, so Gemma had fun running around outside and checking things out.
In the house they had this fake life-size collie. Craziest thing. Oh my goodness, Gemma loved it. She would talk to it, and pet it, and touch its eyes and nose and tongue. She had a blast. Best pet ever, apparently.
We went to Mass Sunday morning and got to see our dear friend Fr. Carney. Then we headed to Aaron's grandparents' farm for a bit and hit the road about 30-45 minutes later than Gemma normally goes down to nap, hoping she would fall right asleep in the car. And she did! We weren't five minutes down the road and she was out, just like that! She slept for just under two hours and was a sweetie the rest of the trip. Here she is snoozin' with her beloved blankie.
I am so glad Gemma is a good traveler, but there certainly is no place like home!! Here is a family picture of us at the farm.
She didn't want to miss out on ANYthing.
Little girl on a big (lowered) bed.
Lying down...look at that proud, happy smile.
Here she is reciting the "Five Little Monkeys" poem my mom taught her. We talked to her about how this is just like the monkeys, no monkeys jumpin' on the bed! She's done splendidly thus far. I'm sure it will be something we'll have to keep on her for here at first, but she really did well. She just crawled up and down the step-stool, and around the bed, and kept laying down on all the pillows with a look of sheer joy on her face. Pretty exciting day for a wee little gal!
And this final picture is from yesterday (well, so were the furniture assembly ones technically). Climbing up on the couch is another new-found talent she has mastered, and yesterday she summoned me to show that she and bunny had both climbed up and sat their little bottoms down very carefully right where they belong. Again, as you can see, she was quite proud. My little girl is turning into quite the big girl...right before my eyes...
Oh, and one more newsflash speaking of a big girl...WE HAVE ALL 16 TEETH NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY GEMMA!!!! We'll see who continues our teething adventure next, her 2yr molars or some baby teeth in the mouth of a yet-to-be-born little wee-one.
